Epic innings in 100th Test the high point of David Warner’s turbulent career
As the MCG erupted on David Warner’s double century, his mother drifted back in time 22 years to the day when a cheeky kid made a promise.
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As David Warner brought up an incredible double century in his 100th Test, his mother drifted back in time 22 years to the day when a cheeky kid made a promise.
“He told me when he was 14 that one day he will play for Australia and buy us a unit, to get us out of the Housing Commission,” Lorraine Warner said.
“And he did.”
Warner’s proud parents, Howie and Lorraine, were at the MCG on Tuesday to witness their son defy extreme cramping and exhaustion in Melbourne’s 37 degree heat to pull off one of the great backs-to-the-wall knocks in Test match history.
With pressure mounting before the Test over his future, it was an innings typical of Warner’s fearless, never-say-die personality, which was ingrained into him on the tough streets of Sydney’s working-class eastern suburbs.
According to his mother, Warner was a boy who always knew where he was going.
“When he was 10, his brother Steve was playing under-17s for NSW in Queensland, and David Paterson, the coach, came back through the airport and David looked at him and said, ‘You’ll be taking me next’,” Lorraine told News Corp.
Warner had organised for his family and close friends to sit in their own box at the MCG for this Test match, and, typical of his generosity and loyalty to those close to him, shouted the entire contingent dinner the night before his extraordinary 200 retired hurt.
It was then that father Howie knew something special was coming.
“Yes, after having dinner with him Monday night, I was in no doubt, because he was so focused and relaxed,” he said.
Mum Lorraine was so overcome with nerves as Warner was peppered by South African Anrich Nortje as he battled through the 90s that she had to be forced into her seat to watch the magical century moment live.
“I always get nervous and can’t watch,” Lorraine said.
“But today everyone made me go outside to watch and I was feeling sick in the stomach for him.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese even paid a visit to the Warner family in their box after the double century was secured, with the 36-year-old opener barely able to stand.
Mr Albanese is from working class roots in Sydney himself and, as Kerry O’Keeffe put it in commentary, “never write off a housing commission kid”.
“That’s exactly right. He comes from a tough area of Sydney,” Mr Albanese said during a stint on Fox Cricket commentary
“The whole of Australia is hoping he hits a ton in his 100th Test.”
Warner told News Corp this week that he never contemplated walking away from the game that had abandoned him during the low point of the Sandpapergate scandal.
As he struggled for runs this summer and critics questioned whether this would be his last series in Test cricket, Warner was again defiant.
His parents – who have stayed in the background during his career and have only rarely spoken publicly – both say their son’s iron-willed mental strength was his greatest quality.
“His determination and how he takes adversity in his stride. He doesn’t let anything bother him, and just knocks out the negativity,” Lorraine said.
It was at an under-8 game at Centennial Park that father Howie thought for the first time that his son could play for Australia.
“His attitude to batting and fielding was unbelievable,” he said.
“I thought back then, he had it in him.”
Warner didn’t have much growing up, but in his eyes, his parents gave him everything.
From the moment Warner was presented with his baggy green cap back in 2011, he made it his personal duty to represent everyone who had helped him achieve a dream they all shared.
Warner says his brother Steve – who is seven years his elder – set a profound example for him.
“He’s another one I continuously represent,” Warner said of Steve, who was also at the MCG on Tuesday.
“He wanted to play for Australia and at 21 or 22 he gave it away. He was an opening batter coming through when Slats (Michael Slater), Matthew Elliott, Martin Love and these guys were all established.
“He had nothing to fall back on, but to his credit, he went out and worked and wanted to work, and never complained.
“I learnt lessons off my brother in not pursuing his own dream. Our upbringing was great.”
Warner the most underrated player in Aussie cricket history
– Robert Craddock
Something unusual happened to David Warner in the build-up to the Boxing Day Test.
He felt an often hostile world put its arm around him.
Warner is used to copping it from all and sundry on social media but received a lot of messages of support from the public for his 100th Test, and even a homeless man wished him the best as he was walking through the streets of Melbourne.
It was so hot in Melbourne on day two of the Test that police were offering assistance to homeless people to find shade and indoor refuge.
But Warner was so keyed up and determined it was as if the temperature never mattered for the first half of his innings before a grand piano dropped from the heavens and fatigue and cramp set in.
He went from looking as fresh as a just unwrapped Christmas present to resembling Dean Jones at the back end of his Chennai double century, which was also played in steam bath conditions.
It was his first century for three years and the best he has batted in that time.
His footwork and stroke play recaptured their edge at the end of a year in which he has averaged just 20 and there were times when needed every bit of his experience to whether the pinpoint 155kph thunderbolts of Anrich Nortje.
Deep into the trenches he went, scrapping and clawing his way through, squeezing every bit of electricity from his 36-year-old reflexes and he required treatment and painkilling tablets after being smashed on the left hand and being belted in the helmet on 47.
This innings, fitting shared with Steve Smith who has been the man close by at so many of his career’s extreme highs and bitter lows such as Sandpapergate, is the high point of Warner’s turbulent career.
Warner’s journey has been a twisting, twirling roller coaster, but the bottom line is he has been the most underrated big name player in Australian cricket history.
When Australia chose its team of the century in the year 2000 Arthur Morris and Bill Ponsford were chosen as the openers, but Warner and Matthew Hayden have gone past both of them.
Great as he was, Ponsford played in only eight Test series and averaged less than 24 in four of them.
Warner’s record is above that.
There are a lot of notable features about Warner’s record but his blistering strike rate is his gold stud.
For an opening batsmen to have a strike rate of 71 and an average floating around 47 is to have a man who had his cake and ate it. He could put his foot to the floor without running off the road.
Significantly, his strike rate is almost identical no matter whether his team wins, loses or draws, so in victory or defeat he has been same ball at a gate.
Those figures alone put him in the best of the best. No question.
It’s often said you compare modest players by comparing their strengths and great players by comparing their short suits … what didn’t they do?
No one does it all.
It’s true Warner was a more dynamic force at home, where he averages around 58, than off-shore, where he has averaged 34.
He struggled in England (average 26), India (24) and Sri Lanka (25) but was a powerhouse in South Africa, where he scored three Test centuries.
Only six specialist opening batsmen in the game have scored more runs than he has and they are all the bluest of blue bloods – Alastair Cook, Graeme Smith, Graham Gooch, Matt Hayden, Virender Sehwag and Geoff Boycott.
Warner is different to all of them. He says there will never be another player like him, and he is probably right.
To appreciate the skill he displayed in being a crack three format player is to understand that the same deliveries he often needs to let go in Test cricket he absolutely has to play at in white ball cricket.
Somehow he has managed to tweak his radar when it matters.
Usman Khawaja: Why mum called Davey the devil
– Usman Khawaja
This little guy’s a cowboy … but I like him.
It may be 30 years since I first played a game of cricket against David Warner but I can still recall having this precise thought watching his all action performance for Sydney Coastal against my Randwick under-10s team.
For some reason the opposition attack decided to target my hips and it felt like money for jam, one of those days where I was hitting plenty of balls towards to leg-side fence.
Davey being Davey, he asked to be moved to right where the action was and I remember him diving and scrambling left and right in the outfield, giving everything.
Has anything changed?
Next thing he would be bowling his seamers.
I remember thinking “who is this kid?’’ even though we had met earlier because our older brothers, who are the same age, had known each other.
Eventually I joined his team and we became the big dogs in our rep team.
Occasionally we look back and joke how on earth this has happened. All those years ago we were opening the bowling together, batting Nos 3 and 4 and just trying to hog everything.
Now, 30 years on, we get to walk out together in his 100th Test. Incredible.
Today’s milestone is all the more remarkable because initially there were plenty of people who never thought he would play one major red ball game never mind 100 Tests.
I was there in NSW when no-one gave him a chance to play red ball cricket. “He just plays too many shots’ was the common cry.
Then a few of us went on to play for Australia and spots opened up and the word was “he can only bat five or six.’’
But because we had a decent middle order the cry became “look, we are just going to have to open with him.’’
Nothing came easily. But you could tell after about 10 games of red ball cricket he was going to make it.
THE KID
Even as a kid Davey was in everything and not all the cherries he propelled had six stitches.
He went through a stage where he would chuck cherries at some of our teammates, leaving a stain which is particularly noticeable on whites.
Our teammates mums would blow up and urge Davey’s mum Lorraine to tell him to stop throwing cherries.
One mum he never fell out with was mine. Mum loves Davey. Even now when she sees Davey’s daughters Ivy, Indi and Isla she just sees him.
She had a name for him – Shaytan, the Urdu term for Devil. She means it in an endearing way of course.
He was always the sort of kid – and still is – who acts first then handles the fallout later.
Davey went to Randwick Boys High which was very multicultural so a lot of his close mates were from Bangladesh, India or south-east Asia.
He has always been very good to me and respectful of my culture and understood how I struggled coming up through the ranks.
As a youngster I was better against the fast bowlers. He was a little bit scared of them and better against spin.
Honestly, he just annihilated spinners. First ball he would just try and hit them for six. You would see these young spinners just melt away.
THE EAGLE EYE
Davey’s attention to detail is staggering. Absolutely nothing gets past him.
We had a funny exchange when we were walking to the wicket to play the West Indies in the Perth Test.
By that stage I am normally consumed by the thought of facing the first ball but they flashed our records up on the scoreboard. I didn’t even notice it but the man who misses nothing noted that my batting average (47.41) had just crept past his (46.28).
He said “oh, you’ve passed me’’ and I chipped back with “but you are about to play your 100th Test and I have just passed 50 – I’ll take those 50 Tests if you want to swap!’’
Imagine that. Two batsmen walking to the middle for the first Test of the summer and we are debating the merits of a quirky stat.
I wouldn’t change my journey for anything but I wanted to pump his tyres up and I was thinking “you are David Warner, you have had an incredible career and nothing that happens now really matters.’’
It always amazes me that whatever ground we go to he knows exactly where all the players’ partners’ boxes are.
You will be having a mid-pitch conversation in a Test match and talking about someone and he will say “yeah, he’s just sitting up there.’’
I will say “how do you know? Are you concentrating on the game?’’
THE GENEROUS MAN
I have long considered Davey the most generous cricketer I have played with.
People don’t see the caring side of him. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I have seen him pick up a bar tab and you will say “mate you don’t have to do that’’ and he’d say “it’s done … all good.’’
If he has a bit of love for you he will do anything for you. It’s one of the reasons why I have been such good friends with him for a long time.
He will also admit it when he does something wrong. You will hear him say “sorry, my bad.’’
I have spoken to his friends outside cricket and I know how much he is done for them.
WORKING CLASS ROOTS
I joke with him that “I am street smart and book smart but you are super street-smart.’’
He’s no bookworm but don’t worry – he has always got his head to the ground. If there is something awry he’ll spot it.
He grew up next to a housing commission and did it tough, just like myself.
You simply cannot be naive in that environment. You couldn’t trust anyone.
A lot of that vibe transfers from life into cricket. Davey has had to be cagey and smart otherwise people would have walked all over him.
If a news story breaks in cricket he is always all over it. His brain never stops. He has an incredibly high awareness.
He was a very confident young fellow. He had that bit of bravado and outward confidence. I was confident too but in a less obvious way and it traces back to our different cultures.
One thing I think is that what you saw during his career in terms of his on-field behaviour was how people wanted him to play rather than how he wanted to play himself.
He used to be told all the time “go out there and be brash, be in their faces.’’ Being the teammate he is he would say “yeah, I will do that.’’
OUR FRIENDSHIP
I have no problems in calling him out. If there’s something I feel is not right I will say “Davey, c’mon … that’s not cool.’’
But the older he is getting the less that is happening. We have had that sort of old relationship where we joke that I am the only one he listens to if I tell him to pull his head in.
I call him Mr 50% because if you believe 50% of everything Davey says you’ll be 100% correct.
THE BATSMAN
I honestly believe the most underrated “silent stat’’ in cricket is where a player bats. In cricket we always talk about averages and centuries and strike rates but unless you open the batting you can never fully understand how incredibly testing it is.
Matthew Hayden averaged 50 as an opener and Justin Langer 45 opening for much of his career.
They batted when batting was toughest every single time. They didn’t get cheap runs.
For Davey’s average to hover not far below 50 for the majority of his career is just extraordinary, particularly at an incredible strike rate of 71.
I’ve seen from close range the effect Warner has on bowlers. Balls that I would let go outside off stump he will attack with relish. That rattles bowlers. I only learnt relatively late in my career that if you can put the pressure back on the bowler you can get a lot more freebies.
This is something I have noticed that is a trait of Davey and almost every great batsman through the ages.
Davey has been through a lot over his career plenty of ups and a plenty of downs.
One thing I know for sure is when things looked most bleak such as after the South African series and his ball tampering sanctions he learned who his friends are and who they aren’t.
And I know he places an extremely high value on those who are which is fair enough.
Because one thing in life I know for sure, there is no such thing as a perfect human.
Don’t be fooled.
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